FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT AQUEDUCT - PAGE 3

Local weather forecasters are saying that what`s left of Hurricane Juan could come into the area by Friday, making for a soggy and muddy Breeders` Cup Day. One person who isn`t worried is trainer LeRoy Jolley, who watched Woodward Stakes and Whitney Handicap winner Track Barron gallop two miles over Aqueduct`s track Tuesday in preparation for the $3-million Breeders` Cup Classic. "I`m not really concerned about the possibility of rain," Jolley said. "(Track Barron) ran at Aqueduct once before when it had rained the night before, and he did fine."

Shadwell Stable's Jazil, winner of the Belmont Stakes and fourth in the Kentucky Derby, is entered today at Gulfstream Park in a second-level, optional claiming event at 11/8 miles. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and ridden by Fernando Jara, Jazil comes into today's race off a second-place finish Jan. 5 at Aqueduct. It was the colt's first start in six months. Seven others have been entered in today's race, including Centennial Farm's Corinthian, who beat Jazil twice last year. Trained by James Jerkens, Corinthian will be making his first start since July.

Leecoo took the lead in the stretch and held off charging Give Me a Hint Wednesday to win by a nose in the $74,300 Broadway Handicap at Aqueduct. The 4-year-old black filly, ridden by Mike Venezia, passed Bold N Pick and Sweet Innocence entering the stretch and then fought off Give Me a Hint, who was eighth at the three-quarter pole but rallied only to be nipped at the wire. Leecoo, who has finished in the money on three of its past four outings under Venezia, returned $16.60, $8.20 and $4.60 while Give Me a Hint, with Wesley Ward, paid $9.40 and $4.60.

Bertram Firestone's Paradise Creek, a three-length winner of the Jan. 8 Appleton Handicap, drew post 7 for Saturday's Grade II Canadian Turf Handicap and was installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite. Paradise Creek will carry 123 pounds as the starting highweight in a field of eight for the $100,000, 11/8-mile race. Paradise Creek carried 121 while winning the Appleton. Paradise Creek, trained by Bill Mott, who won last year's Canadian Turf with Stagecraft, will again be ridden by Mike Smith.

Because of its inability to get permission from the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, Gulfstream Park announced Thursday that it will not be able to offer its patrons full-card simulcasts this winter racing season. Gulfstream President Douglas Donn said Thursday that despite repeated attempts to have the Division grant Gulfstream a ruling - attempts that Gulfstream carried to the First District Court of Appeals - the Division will not grant Gulfstream a hearing or an extention to a 90-day simulcast experiment, which ends today at Calder.

Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide is stabled at Gulfstream Park, Breeders' Cup Classic winner Ghostzapper at Palm Meadows and several graded-stakes winners are running today at Calder Race Course. The winter racing season is slowly kicking into gear in South Florida. Calder's final and best month of racing begins today with Grand Slam I, featuring four stakes worth $100,000 each and comprising an all-stakes, Pick-4. The highlight will be two turf races: the 28th running of the Grade III Tropical Turf Handicap and 22nd running of the Grade III My Charmer Handicap.

Race driver Jim Fitzgerald, 65, was killed Sunday afternoon when he crashed his car in the early stages of the Trans-Am Series race in the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Fitzgerald, a teammate of actor-racer Paul Newman, crashed his Nissan 300ZX Turbo in Turn 1 of the third lap in the scheduled 50-lap race on the 2-mile downtown street course. The race was stopped for 45 minutes while rescue crews worked on Fitzgerald at trackside, and the barrier and fencing where he hit was repaired. Fitzgerald was transported by ambulance to nearby Bayfront Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

With only 16 days remaining before the Kentucky Derby, there are still several questions about many of the more than 40 prospects vying to Run for the Roses May 4. Saturday, however, most of those questions -- if not all -- will be answered with the running of the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York, the Garden State Stakes at Garden State Park in New Jersey, the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields in California and the Arkansas Derby in Hot Springs,...

It is all "timing and judgment," said Hall of Fame jockey Robert Ussery one morning at trainer Bill Kaplan`s Calder barn. And maybe that`s why no one has ever dared go down Ussery`s Alley. No one, that is, until Robert Woodhouse. Ussery`s Alley was the name given to the dramatic run that Ussery would send his mounts on at Aqueduct. Racing widest of all down the backstretch, Ussery would bring his mount off the crest of the track entering the turn for the inner rail. Under Ussery`s "timing and judgment," his mounts would accelerate off Aqueduct`s crest and open up a lead few could wear down.

As 72,000 at Brooklyn's Aqueduct Race Track looked on Friday, a sudden gust of wind whipped around Pope John Paul II, playing with his white hair and flapping his gold-colored vestment. He couldn't resist the chance to joke about it. "Last night, much rain - today, much wind," he said, the quip having its expected effect of sustained cheering. The difference between Friday's morning Mass and the previous evening's event at New Jersey's Giants Stadium was as direct as the pontiff's observation.